School Librarian Saturday: CodeSpark Academy

In School Librarian Saturday, I’m going to share the websites, databases, apps, and other stuff I use with students in my K-5 teacher-librarian role, under the cover of internet darkness (see: the weekend).

Today we have the coding app CodeSpark Academy.

What It Is: CodeSpark is an app (and now a website as well) that gamifies the basics of computer coding.

What’s Good About It: Educator accounts are free (non-school use is subscription-based). It’s wordless, which makes it accessible to a wide range of students. The puzzles do a nice job of building on skills and teaching coding concepts in a fun way.

What’s Bad About It: Users can spend forever customizing their characters and never get to the actual coding. But this shouldn’t be an issue with a little grown-up guidance.

Last Words: CodeSpark is well-done and substantial. Don’t tell anyone, but I sort of can’t believe it’s free for educators. Recommended.

Filed under: School Librarian Saturday